Priest in trouble after prank with pistol

Daniel Tepfer, Staff Writer

Published 11:48 pm, Friday, December 10, 2010

BRIDGEPORT -- A prank with a starter pistol landed a Roman Catholic priest in state Superior Court on Friday.

The Rev. Daniel Lynch, 62, who was tackled by police and arrested after neighbors complained he was firing a gun at another man on Burnsford Avenue, agreed to plead guilty to a reduced charge of creating a public disturbance in Superior Court here. He was fined $90.

"My client is sorry he created any inconvenience," said Lynch's lawyer, Robert Photos.

Photos said Lynch, of Takoma Park, Md., has been a Roman Catholic priest for nearly 40 years and has never been in trouble with the law before. Lynch's deceased father was a Bridgeport police officer.

According to police, on Sept. 18, residents of Burnsford Avenue complained of a man firing a handgun at another man outside a home there.

Police arrived a short time later and surrounded the house. They then burst in as Lynch yelled, "It's not a real gun," and tackled Lynch and another man, identified as 52-year-old Thomas Naylor, forcing them to the floor, police said.

Police said they located what appeared to be a black revolver on a table nearby. It turned out to be a starter pistol.

Lynch was charged with illegal use of a facsimile firearm and second-degree breach of peace.

Photos said Lynch had been staying in his sister's home on Burnsford Avenue and decided to play a prank on Naylor, a longtime friend, with the starter pistol. He said the two men were enjoying a good laugh about the prank when police burst in.